Meeting Gavin Turk – 30 June 2015

At New London Architecture’s Thomas Heatherwick lecture: an inspiring experience. He clearly inhabits the same world of difficult sites, demanding briefs and tight budgets as the rest of us, but he manages to conjure something completely extraordinary from the same ingredients. The lecture slides are straightforward: it’s the ideas that shine through, and how they solve relevant problems.

Thomas Heatherwick - 29 June 2015Contemplating his amazing work and optimistic office the next morning, I wanted to draw something simple and utilitarian, to get back in touch with my own ‘reality’: a truck making deliveries at St Pancras. KM_C454e-20150630090939After breakfast I headed for Hackney, expecting I’d seen enough inspiring characters for one trip, and it was time to do some real work (the protestant work ethic is never far away). Instead,  I ran into Gavin Turk and talked about how you might make space for creative free thinkers in the overheated, investment focused, London property market.

KM_C454e-20150630175753

Well he talked, I sketched and noted the presence of paintbrush in the hand of a YBA. I was pleased he signed my sketchbook. It says:

Gavin Turk

did not draw this”.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *